Keep it Simple, Silly

I have been watching some of the ads on TV that urges silly you to keep it simple.   It is necessary to keep things simple. That will help us surely succeed. Google, Apple are renowned examples that we all know. Simple things stay with humans longer as they enable us to understand and serve the purpose without any effort. But its not that easy as it is said.

When Indiatimes 8888 was started as a project it had everyone possessed in all aspects due to the endless possibilities and the hockey stick growth it promised. The services were ready, the distribution on dot, the launch was super- what with a front page 200 col cm editorial in the Times of India.

The first of the lessons of simplicity came from the management  when the short code was chosen. In all our enthusiasm and euphoria surrounding the project, we took a short code 864- meaning TOI on phone as would anyone then.  It was unceremoniously shot down and asked to go back for something simple. Thus cam 8888.  Can anyone contest that?

But  still something else really worried. The keywords were aaaa, aaa, ccc etc for each service, the menu was  multi layered menu, m and life surely was complicated. No amount of education and publicity would have gotten us the desired adoption.

Then came the second wave of " keep it simple". Natural language progression, most english words are spelt the way they are pronounced (atleast the first three characters, except maybe words like psychology and others). So all things changed. Every single service was accessed with the first three characters. Most did not struggle to get their cri, jok, leo, sto, mov, res,  and even dat..

Numbers grew, following grew and so did many more services.

The easy recall and the eventual success is surely attributed to the simplicity of it.
Isn't it true that the simplest things are always the greatest.

With fear and lots of favour

It does not look like its 23 years since I joined this prestigious newspaper and I was so thoroughly ingrained  on my then bony frame , that The Hindu stands for A B C of journalism. Accuracy, Brevity and Clarity. It was with great pride that I would stride into every home during  research and take all feedback from readers and others - that The Hindu is for the aged , easy chaired, old world charm, very belated in breaking news and almost wont speak of anything not verified.

There were stories ( and in good humour too) of how the press used to be stopped for the final confirmation of the doctor's note to publish the demise of even great leaders. Well, invariably I would be  defending all the feedback and explaining the user that The Hindu stood for the ABC of journalism and will not publish anything that is not fit its editorial policy.

Cut to April  2011, when I visited some of my friends and past colleagues in this organisation , I cherished and relived some of the stories but prided at the fact that the "Mount Road Raja" stood for what few others did.

The 23 years that flew by had me witness some from close quarters and others from a distance of how editorial principles were misused, abused, disused and even refused, courtesy my career path in the media industry.
I have been happy at how principled some were: The publishers of PC Quest were always ready to inform the manufacturer about the possible poor review his product is likely to get and any publicity/advertisement in the concerned issue can be dropped. A clear message that you are important but our reviews cant be influenced.

I further witnessed the era of the internet when there was an abject surrender to the monetary pressures applied by advertisers on what appeared and what did not. In parallel there was a revolution of the open sale of column centimeter of editorial content, a blatant attempt to influence the user through glamour and clamour.

Today, I stand a bit disappointed after reading  the letter of Mr. N.Ravi to his colleagues and the narration of the editorial compromises that he claims have been made.   http://tinyurl.com/6ytln3n

The tussle between circulation ads and editorial promises were always interesting, one always supporting the other but now the wall that existed seems to have been an imaginary  line. 

ABC has quite slipped to mean Advertisements, Bias and Circulation.

Amidst all this I still feel there stood a few who will not possibly compromise. They will grow in stature, at least in my mind and a lot many like me.

Just a reminder of what  journalists stand for  - ''to give the news impartially, without fear or favor, regardless of party, sect, or interests involved"